4-year-old shot, in stable condition

Saturday

Jul 13, 2013 at 12:38 PM

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

A 4-year-old girl is in stable condition after being shot Friday night.Tamerra Harper was asleep on a chair when someone fired shots into a home in the 700 block of 31st Avenue, said Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit commander Sgt. Dale Phillips.Harper was taken to Children's of Alabama in Birmingham, where she was in stable but critical condition Saturday morning, he said. Tamerra, who has a twin sister, Tamiya, suffered a head wound and a broken arm. Her grandmother said that she has a bullet lodged in her skull and another in her arm. She is breathing with the help of a ventilator and is scheduled to undergo surgery to remove the bullet from her arm Saturday afternoon, La Shonda Harper-Gibson said.The shots were fired into the house around 10 p.m. and were targeted at someone else who lives in the house, Phillips said.“This was not an accident,” he said.Investigators were still looking for suspects Saturday.Harper-Gibson said that she and her family are in shock.“I am just numb,” she said Saturday morning.Harper-Gibson and her granddaughters had just fallen asleep when she was awakened by the gunshots. She said that she grabbed the girls and crawled down the hall. She didn't realize that Tamerra had been injured until she turned on the light. Harper-Gibson wrapped her granddaughter in a blanket and ran out the back door to a friend's house to call 911. The friend's house had also been hit by one of the nine rounds police said were fired.“Who would do something like this and hurt an innocent baby, a four-year-old baby?” Harper-Gibson said. “I hope that they find whoever did this and make them suffer. I hope that God touches their hearts and changes them, is what I really hope.”Ashley Harper, the twins' mother, was about to return home from work when the shooting happened, Harper-Gibson said. Harper-Gibson said that several family members were by Tamerra's side at Children's Hospital and would remain there as long as she is hospitalized.The twins attended prekindergarten at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and had recently started to attend Star Bright Child Development Center.Both girls are funny, happy and smart 4-year-olds who are inseparable, Harper-Gibson said. She said they love swimming, writing and reading.“They are very fun little angels, everyone loves them,” she said. “They are just alike. When they're sleeping and one flips over, the other one does, too. And they never, ever meet strangers.“They so love each other,” she said. “I know in my family's heart that God has already given us the strength to move on. God is on our side, and we know Tamerra is going to be all right.”“There is so much violence with these young people. Something needs to be done,” she said. “They need to be reached out to.”